The lesson here is that sharks win, no matter who the competition is.
Warner Bros was angling hard for The Meg to be a hit, especially after Teen Titans Go! To the Movies fell below box office expectations. The marketing paid off as the giant prehistoric shark film chomped up an outstanding $44.5mm at the box office for its opening weekend.
Despite mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike, the Jason Statham-led feature also collected $97mm overseas, including a mind-boggling $50mm from China. Not a bad way to start given its estimated $150mm production budget.
comScore’s Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian commented, “Warner Bros.’ The Meg starring Jason Statham took a giant bite out of box office around the world with a stronger than expected $44.5 million North American debut and $96.8 million earned in 42 international territories for a very tasty global weekend debut of $141.3 million.”
Tom Cruise’s critically-acclaimed action blockbuster, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, dipped to #2 in its third week, but continues to show off an incredibly impressive amount of staying power with another $20 million stateside, bringing its domestic total to $161.9 million, which is 17% ahead of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation at the same point in its release cycle.
Not even a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score combined with the one-year anniversary of Charlottesville tragedy could help director Spike Lee’s new and amazing BlacKkKlansman bring in more than 11mm. Hopefully audiences will discover the film in the coming weeks.
Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp finished tenth in its sixth weekend with $4.04 million, but managed to top a big milestone as it’s now crossed the $200 million mark domestically ($203.5M). The Peyton Reed-directed superhero vehicle has now earned over $448.9 million worldwide and is slated to debut in China on August 24.
The top 12 domestic weekend box office estimates, listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, August 12, are below.
Meg, The – Warner Bros. – $44.5M
Mission: Impossible – Fallout – Paramount – $20.0M
Disney’s Christopher Robin – Disney – $12.4M
Slender Man – Sony – $11.3M
BlacKkKlansman – Focus Features – $10.8M
Spy Who Dumped Me, The – Lionsgate – $6.6M
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – Universal – $5.8M
Equalizer 2, The – Sony – $5.5M
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation – Sony – $5.1M
Ant-Man And The Wasp – Disney – $4.0M
Incredibles 2 – Disney – $3.5M
Dog Days – Mirror/LD Entertainment – $2.6M
The top 12 worldwide weekend box office estimates, listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, August 12, are below.
Meg, The – Warner Bros. – $141.3M
iPartment – Multiple Chinese Distributors – $80.0M
Island, The (dir. Bo) – Multiple – $77.5M
Mission: Impossible – Fallout – Paramount Pictures – $58.4M
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – Universal – $27.3M
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation – Sony – $22.2M
Incredibles 2 – Disney – $18.1M
Disney’s Christopher Robin – Disney – $16.2M
Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days – Multiple – $16.1M
Spy Gone North, The – CJ Entertainment – $15.0M
Spy Who Dumped Me, The – Lionsgate – $11.5M
Slender Man – Sony – $11.3M
Source: comScore
